Thursday, February 2, 2012

Rogue Trader Anniversary Project



For whatever reason, GW has seriously limited enthusiasm regarding the 25th Anniversary of Rogue Trader. But we don't! I'm a big Rogue Trader nerd. So are many, many of other gamers out there, I am sure. We have had tons of fun playing a number of Rogue Trader games over the past couple of years. So even if GW is out, I think we can still mark the occasion with a small Rogue Trader project - the "Battle At The Farm".

This is the small, starter scenario from the Rogue Trader rulebook, pitting Commander Pedro Cantor and 15 Crimson Fists - survivors of a disaster that wiped out their base during an Ork invasion - against an Ork patrol of 21 troopers. It is about as un-Apocalypse as you can get. The heaviest weapon on the table is a missile launcher. Dallas has a great collection of RT Orks. We just need some Crimson Fists.

RTB-01 box - fun!
Thank goodness for eBay! A much beaten and battered box of plastic RT-era beakies has just arrived, and I'm putting together 16 models to represent Commander Cantor and his survivors.

Sprues of plastic beakie nostalgia
I picked up a few vanity shoulder pads for the figures - my experience trying to get the chapter decals on to the curved marine shoulder pads in the past has been very mixed.
First five models waiting to start their journey through the paint shop...
If the lads are amenable, I'm hoping we can do a little mini-campaign of three Rogue Trader games, starting with the original "Battle At The Farm", to mark the Rogue Trader Anniversary later this month.  These will be painted as soon as I finish another unit of Austrians.

Anyone else out there doing a game, or a project for Rogue Trader? Maybe just buying the special anniversary figure? Too bad it's Finecast...

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PS - An oversight on my part.  I forgot to mention that founding Conscript Curt C once sold these things at his hobby store in Winnipeg! Very cool.
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17 comments:

  1. CurtFebruary 2, 2012 at 10:21 AM

    Ah, I love those 'Beakies'. I have fond memories of running 'Mediaeval Works' in 1987 (back when I still had hair, sniff) and unpacking the first shipment of Rogue Trader rulebooks and plastics. Dave, do you remember those first Marine vs Ork games on the floor of my apartment? Heady days, eh? Cripes, we must have sold stacks of the stuff - it was mental.

    Curt

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  2. Don MFebruary 2, 2012 at 10:29 AM

    Heady days indeed...the era prior to "Chapter Approved Fascism!".
    The days of Deodorant support vehicles and a home made flyer.

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  3. DallasFebruary 2, 2012 at 10:48 AM

    Nice post! Looking forward to the campaign!

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  4. CurtFebruary 2, 2012 at 10:56 AM

    That's right! I totally forgot about the huge amount of kit-bashed stuff we had for vehicles. I think it was the only time many of the gamers in our store ever came close to personal hygiene products. 'Hm, how do I get this clean smelly stuff out so I can use the casing?' ;)

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  5. Don MFebruary 2, 2012 at 11:19 AM

    LOL, yes your right about that personal hygiene observation Curt!
    On a personal note don't bemoan
    the loss of hair God only made so many perfect heads the rest he covered (that's my story and I'm sticking to it, although I think my
    own had more to do with wearing a
    Kevlar helmet for 20 years)

    I'm doing my own version of Rogue Trader in 15mm, have the Space Marines and am now working own the Guard.

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  6. ChrisFebruary 2, 2012 at 1:35 PM

    I just recently painted up a couple of squads of RT Space Marines, I painted them as Ultra Marines. You should check them out.
    http://sippinonpaintwater.blogspot.com/search/label/Ultra%20Marines
    I never got the chance to play Rogue Trader as the game and I are both celebrating our 25th birthday this year.

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  7. Greg BFebruary 2, 2012 at 1:44 PM

    @ Chris - those RT Ultramarines look really sharp. Great job.

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  8. DaveVFebruary 2, 2012 at 2:58 PM

    Curt, yes I remember those days! For awhile games were just "Horus Heresy" stuff since only the beakies were available at first.

    I shall hopefully be picking up the limited edition figure. I do not like the Finecast resin, though.

    I was actually working on my Grey Knights this week. I intend to paint them as a band of Crimson Fists librarians...

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  9. Lillian CharlesFebruary 2, 2012 at 4:48 PM

    Im sorry, but I'm not seeing HOW GW are having limited enthusiasm over the anniversary.

    They will be doing things aLL FREAKING YEAR. But hey, going by your previous post you'd rather they didn't change anything in the past 25 years, and had left us with the old rules. So why don't you just play them, while the rest of us play the new, much better ruleset, hmmm?

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  10. DallasFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:06 PM

    Thanks for the comment, Ian!

    In answer, I think some of us are a bit disappointed that the "special souvenir edition" of the WD (their words) consisted of 41 pages at the back of a magazine with Gandalf on the cover. We had hoped that the content would be a celebration of RT and "old school" gaming but the RT content was pretty much limited to four pics of old models (two of which were the same) and a few odd remarks - some disparaging: "it's amazing to see WH 40K's journey... to the tabletop behemoth it is today" (gag). Not saying that RT is/was the best ruleset going but it has a charm to it that beats the current "line up the tanks axle to axle across the baseline and advance" attitude of the Design Staff. Don't get us started on "true line of sight"...:-)

    If you've read the RT reports on the blog you'll note that we incorporate developments from the current edition where we feel they are superior to RT - e.g. vehicle rules, so we're not total Luddites. I guess we just wish that GW shared some of our enthusiasm for their own corporate history - it would go a long way to offsetting the current "we want your $$" attitude they so often project nowadays (Finecast anyone?)

    Thanks again for your comment and hope you enjoy the blog.

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  11. Greg BFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:07 PM

    @Ian - thanks for your comment. I would offer the following in response.

    I would judge the limited enthusiasm by their decision to put Gandalf on the 25th anniversary cover. But you may be right - perhaps they are planning things all year.

    If you read some of our earlier Rogue Trader posts, I think you will see we do not find it perfect - the vehicle rules in particular are, at best, really, really hard to understand, and many other little things, like the deviation rules for area effect weapons, are not very good.

    So it is not that GW should not have changed anything in 25 years. But I do miss the spirit of what the game was - a skirmish game in a cool setting - and lament the lack of it in what the game is now. I find the current rules product soulless and the experience of playing it utterly detached from what it is supposedly seeking to represent. The creep of constantly updated codexes is nauseating and warps the game further.

    The is not the universal view of our group by a long shot - Dave V, for example, a regular contributor to our blog, is an avid 40k gamer, and argues eloquently and passionately for the strenghts of the current game. Plus he routinely cleans our clocks when we play :) And if it works for you too, that's great.

    Cheers

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  12. DallasFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:29 PM

    good comment Greg... and Ian, I forgot to mention (and you may have gathered) that some of us here are, well, "old" and remember playing RT when it first came out, so it is a bit of a nostalgia trip for us, as well as a pure gaming experience. Perhaps you will feel the same way about 5th edition when 10th edition is released in a boxed set with self-painting Finecast models ;-)

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  13. ColKillgoreFebruary 2, 2012 at 5:58 PM

    I didn't know about the 25th anniversary but some buddies and I played Rogue trader for the first time in too many years It was my genestealer cult against my buddies' Space marines.

    http://www.mlwodementia.blogspot.com/2012/01/rogue-trader-cleanses-genestealer-cult.html

    We talked about another Rogue trader game , I might have to schedule it for the Anniversary.

    ColKG

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  14. Alan MFebruary 3, 2012 at 3:52 PM

    I'm another one with fond memories of the old Rogue Trader days, and my rag-tag band of 'Space Pirates'

    http://anotherslipperyslope.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-difference-day-or-8000-or-so-makes.html

    Looking forward to what you guys do with 'The Battle at the Farm'. I seem to recall that White Dwarf published a follow up scenario with a group of marines trying to break back into the capital city via an underpass guarded by the Orks. I'm sure I still have it around here somewhere...

    I may just have to follow your example and have a bit of a game in honour of the anniversary :-)

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  15. Greg BFebruary 3, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    @ Ethics Gradient - go with the retro RT game - would love to see the pics and battle report.

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  16. Mike AFebruary 4, 2012 at 1:09 PM

    This has prompted me to start working on my Crimson Fists again, though they are the current models.

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  17. DanFebruary 9, 2012 at 11:32 AM

    I love the old marines, perhaps its nostalgia, but I actually prefer them to the more modern ones.
    Has it really been 25 years?!
    I still have some of my old marines (painted up as Dark Angels-in black armour- as thats how they were shown in the rulebook). And Thrugg Bullneck's space ork raiders.
    Shame GW doesn't support, or even give a nod to the old games. I've always thought it went downhill when Ian Livingstone sold it back in the 90's...
    I did see a jokaero on GW a while back (i remember nearly every hero having jokaero digital weapons when we used to play)
    http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1140066a
    Oh, and I have a pdf of warhammer townscape somewhere, it has the ruins from battle at farm on it. I could send you a copy if you want.

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